Pipe down, Elton, you eco-snob

Poor Elton John. He’s ‘deeply distressed’. What’s happened to the filthy-rich national treasure? Well, some people were mean about his posh, rich mates using his private jet to fly to his swanky pad in the South of France. Can you believe the indignities celebrities have to endure? Us plebs with our once-a-year jaunts on Ryanair could never understand the awfulness of being mocked for swanning about on an airplane swilling with champagne.

This is the news that Elton John, the Queen Mum of pop, has been made upset by the little people’s criticisms of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for using a private jet to get to France. Elton, being made of money, paid for the jet. They’re staying in his house in the South of France, and you can imagine what that’s like. People have called Harry and Meghan massive, ridiculous hypocrites because just a couple of weeks ago they were lecturing the masses from the pulpit of Vogue magazine about the need to cut carbon and save the planet and yet now they’re farting out more CO2 than most of us do in a year by jetting back and forth across the south of Europe. Elton, like an obsequious courtier protecting his princes from the barbs of the dumb masses, says these criticisms are ‘distorted’, ‘malicious’, ‘relentless’ and ‘untrue’.

To which the only reasonable reply is: fuck off, Reg. Can these people hear themselves? You’re rolling in money, in the case of Harry and Meghan you are members of the most privileged and archaic institution in the Western world, and yet here you are playing the victim. Just stop. Deep distress is an understandable response to losing one’s job or struggling to get enough money together for the mortgage. But to a few well-deserved slights from ordinary people who are sick of being eco-lectured by rich, woke, hypocritical greens? No.

Perhaps the most telling part of Elton’s obtuse, self-awareness-free intervention into the Harry and Meghan discussion was his insistence that their private-jet journeys aren’t in fact eco-unfriendly because Elton himself offset the carbon spouted by the flights by ‘making the appropriate contribution to Carbon Footprint’. Which is presumably some tree-planting outfit that absolves the rich of their guilt by throwing a few seeds in the ground every time they fly, much like the wealthy used to buy Indulgences from the Catholic Church to wash away their sins.

Elton’s boast that he neutralised the pollution of the royals’ luxury trip by making an ‘appropriate contribution’ makes him sound even more pompous. What he is effectively saying is that he is so goddamn rich, so up to his neck in cash, that not only can he afford to put his posh friends on a private jet but he can also pay to ensure their flights don’t harm the planet. He is wealthy and therefore he is less sinful than the rest of us who fly to Alicante but never chuck a few quid to Carbon Footprint – because, er, we can’t afford it. In the world of green virtue-signalling, the rich are more pure than the poor.

Elton’s conspicuous compassion echoes professional irritant Emma Thompson’s recent eco-hypocrisy. Clearly angling for a starring role in the satire on the ridiculousness of the eco-rich that I hope someone will one day write, Ms Thompson took a first-class flight from LA to London to partake in… an Extinction Rebellion protest! Yes, she committed the sin of flying in order to lecture us plebs about how sinful it is to fly. Asked by a reporter if she at least flew second-class, which is apparently more green, Thompson scoffed, ‘I bloody don’t, no!’, clearly horrified at the prospect of being stuck in coach with people like you and me. She offset her first-class flight by planting trees, she said. And there it was again, the clear and obnoxious implication that the richer you are, the more right you have to fly, because you can afford an Indulgence that absolves you of your carbon sins.

In the green world, it is clear that it is the poor, given they lack the means to pay for their eco-sins, who have more chance of getting through the eye of a needle than getting into the heaven of eco-aware self-congratulation. The new green elites seem determined to price or pressure the less well-off out of the skies. If flying is only acceptable when you can afford to apologise for it with money, what does that say to poorer air travellers? Extinction Rebellion of course wants to go even further and impose stiff taxes on flying. This will allow the wealthy to jet at will while pushing the poor back on to buses to Bognor Regis.

We are glimpsing the elitism behind the green movement’s caring facade. Strip away all the bunkum about saving the planet and what we have here is a movement stuffed with the posh and rich berating the rest of us for our allegedly bad habits. Snobbery masquerading as social justice: wokeness summed up.

Simon E

I have the terrible suspicion that Reg appropriated Diana as his in death and in now set about trying to add to his collection of weirdness with Mr Furnish and peculiar domestic setup.

H&M would be well advised to stay well away as there is plenty of Regis backstory to come out yet. Check the trouble Uncle Andrew is finding.

Jerry Owen

24th August 2019 at 11:07 pm

Where is little Jonnie ? The little Jonnie that apparently never runs away !!!

Hana Jinks

25th August 2019 at 2:38 am

You’ve been tried in a Kangaroo Court and been convicted of naziism.

There is still the matter of the Eva Braun photo album, and so l suggest that for your wife’s sake, that you allow her to have an account and get her on here so that she isn’t an innocent victim in all of this.

(We has all been following along, Babydoll. Bluffing it out won’t help at all. Check the lyrics on this one!!!)

Simon D

24th August 2019 at 10:50 am

‘Which is presumably some tree-planting outfit that absolves the rich of their guilt by throwing a few seeds in the ground every time they fly, much like the wealthy used to buy Indulgences from the Catholic Church to wash away their sins.’

Hmm isn’t this the same language that the greens use to condemn offsetting?

Theo Kornpone

25th August 2019 at 9:18 pm

It’s an odd thing about trees. They don’t really require planting. They reproduce by means of seeds and nuts naturally.

If you just leave a tract alone in my area you get an oak history forest in 20 years all in its own .

Elaine J

23rd August 2019 at 10:30 pm

I really dislike being lectured to by the likes of Elton John and members of the Royal Family. I reckon our family’s carbon footprint, if measured by their standards, should elevate us up, up and away … my husband and I never flown, we have always holidayed in the UK, preferring to drive to our destination in a very eco friendly diesel car (despite the claims, diesel is actually less harmful to the environment than petrol cars, the evidence is out there if one cares to look) . Now that my husband is retired, and I work 4 days a week just 6 miles away, it’s even lower. I wouldn’t mind betting that the vast majority of families living in the UK don’t fly abroad for holidays. A lot don’t drive, either; they live in cities and use public transport. I hate the sense of entitlement that allows people like them to believe they can buy off their massive carbon footprints by planting a few trees. If they’re that bothered about the environment,they should planting trees every week, regardless of whether they’ve flown anywhere that week. The other thing is – who exactly does Elton imagines believes the rubbish he is spouting?? I’m pretty sure the majority of people who saw/read what he had to say about it will be thinking “.. and the second word is ‘off’…. give me strength!

Aunty Podes

24th August 2019 at 3:41 am

(My comment – not a reply!)
I have a high regard for Harry but not his choices in relationships here. The hypocrisy is ludicrous. To pretend or even imagine it is OK to “buy back” the carbon displays a total lack of reason and/or logic.

Dan Under

23rd August 2019 at 9:16 pm

A priceless sin-opsis of the current eco-e-lite. Arguably the only adjective omitted is ‘pecksniffian’.

Dennis Ambler

Very gender unbalanced, female sustainability consultants in the main.

Offsets require validation by the UN Clean Development Mechanism board, there are some creative projects put forward and they can earn the consultant up to 40% of the value of the project.

https://www.carbonfootprint.com/certifiedemissionreductioncer.html
The Kenya cookstoves project is saving an “estimated” 0.11% of Kenya’s emissions in 2017
They are claiming for a windfarm project in China which will save an “estimated” 0.001% of China’s emissions in 2017 and a windfarm in the Phillipines, which will save an estimated 0.044% of the Phillipines emissions in 2017. You would have to check the application in depth to see if they account for the “carbon footprint” of the wind farm.

China’s emissions increased by 188% from 1997 to 2007, current level is almost twice that of the US, 25x the UK. Per head UK is 5.3 MtCO2, China is now 7MtCO2 and still growing and we are giving them money to plant wind turbines.

Bri -an

26th August 2019 at 8:14 am

Brilliant work!
It is perfectly clear these ‘activists’ are inpired by hearing a rumour that CO2 ’causes a dangerous greenhouse effect’ that must ‘be stopped immediately’!
Looking at their qualifications (MBA?, BSc (Hons) degree in Environmental Science? . . ) not one in thermal physics.
As you say, ‘All spreadsheet stuff and creative supporting storylines’.
The whole greenhouse effect argument is a total fraud and misrepresentation, it has never been detected, let alone measured.

Colin Sweeney

22nd August 2019 at 11:27 pm

“Us plebs with our once-a-year jaunts on Ryanair “, ah come on now Brendan how many times a year do you go to New York and other places like Brazil and Australia.

Jerry Owen

23rd August 2019 at 9:08 am

Colin
Your point has been raised before.
BON isn’t advocating we all stop flying so he is not a hypocrite his article stands firm. Indeed he considers the masses flying as human progress, and he is correct in my opinion.
He could however have not used the word ‘Us’ .. ‘ most ‘ would have been more apt.

Hana Jinks

Hana Jinks

Jerry Owen

22nd August 2019 at 6:17 pm

Little Jonnie
You asked me why I didn’t mention anybody that worked for the BBC in my list, I did Attenborough and Packham. Did you miss that ?
I asked you to explain why the royal duo weren’t hypocrites, you then said I should first tell you why they are .. hence you wouldn’t answer my question.
Note : I asked you first to answer my question.. you refused till I answered yours, it doesn’t work like that little Jonnie boy, and BTW you never did answer the questions put to you on another recent thread , why not ?
If you read BON’s article and cannot see that they are indeed hypocrites you are alone on this thread. That should tell you something !
Your response when I said you were embarrassing in your ability to see the hypocrisy brought out a response ..’ what a pathetic and useless explanation’ .. no it was a point of fact in that you are unable to see the hypocrisy, it was no ‘explanation’ it was a point of fact.
Lastly I never said Reg and Thompson worked for the BBC nor did I allude to that either.
If you cannot see the point of the article above ( do you ever read them ? ) then you really are quite cut off from reality.

Jerry Owen

22nd August 2019 at 10:48 pm

The above post is meant in reply to Little Jonnie further down this thread .

Hana Jinks

23rd August 2019 at 9:44 am

What about the lasr four months of my trolling at you, Babydoll?

Alex Ander

22nd August 2019 at 3:08 pm

Okay Elton – what’s the carbon foot print for all your concerts, all your global record distribution and all the infrastructure required over the decades to make you the portly, self-righteous little fairy you are today? Guilty conscious – not much!

William Murphy

22nd August 2019 at 8:48 am

My current favourite ecological virtue signaller has to be Pope Francis. He has the habit of flying round the world in a huge jet and then stepping into a conspicuously ‘umble little car after leaving the jet. The height of absurdity has to be his trip to Cairo. His truly ‘umble little car was escorted by tanks doing one mile per gallon and helicopter gunships to protect him from the local nutters.

Bri -an

26th August 2019 at 8:38 am

Indeed!
Pope Francis is a hypocrite, posing as he does in his Encyclical ‘Laudate Si’.
He identifies CO2 as a danger. How does he know this? Has he studied the matter in depth? He lays no claim to have done so. Instead he relies on ‘advisors’ the Pontifical Academy of Sciences ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifical_Academy_of_Sciences )
This ‘Academy’ has been thoroughly penetrated by UN activists. Pope Francis has thrown his lot in with these, even though there isn’t the slightest evidence to back their claims – no evidence = no science.
As the Pope for all Catholics, he is required, at least, to maintain the 10 commandments. No. 8 requires the faitfull not to ‘bear false witness’.
Advocating that the faithfull ‘act to save the planet’, based on a rumour you heard from someone else, is just a fine way of driving a coach and horses through the 8th commandment.

Hana Jinks

22nd August 2019 at 4:42 am

Umm…it isn’t actually Smelton’s fault if people buy his records. How are people supposed to explain to their kids these days about how he’s got a husband? And how about some kind of petition to verify whether Pronce Hewitt is in fact German or not?

William Murphy

22nd August 2019 at 8:43 am

Re the Ponce Hewitt and all his alleged Royal relatives….how many of the “Royal” family would still retain their titles and incomes if independent DNA testing was applied to all “Royals” on the public payroll? The official family trees in countless history books might require some hasty pruning.

Hana Jinks

22nd August 2019 at 5:05 pm

Haha, and not before time.

Danny Rees

21st August 2019 at 9:23 pm

Write more stuff about things like Brendan and less about Islam .

Neil McCaughan

22nd August 2019 at 11:43 am

You too believe that islam is afraid of scrutiny. With reason.

Colin Sweeney

21st August 2019 at 8:15 pm

“Once a Year jaunts on Ryanair” ah now come on Brendan, how many times do you go to New York a year, not to mention places like Australia and Brazil

Danny Rees

21st August 2019 at 9:25 pm

True and he should have referred to them and not we.

Ven Oods

21st August 2019 at 2:19 pm

“This will allow the wealthy to jet at will while pushing the poor back on to buses to Bognor Regis.”

You must admit, though, that back when we of the hoi polloi couldn’t afford to go anywhere, there wasn’t all this talk about ecological disaster.
So, Reg is right: it really is our fault. (And, how dare you criticise two National Treasures?)

Mark Houghton

21st August 2019 at 2:07 pm

There are two ways of looking at this:
1. Reg doesn’t realise how hypocritical this makes him look which renders his views irrelevant on account of him being stupid.
2 He does realise but doesn’t really care which means have no moral validity whatsoever.

Jerry Owen

21st August 2019 at 1:45 pm

We are flying abroad soon, we also have a couple of oak trees in our garden. I wondered if anyone could advise me on how many acorns to plant when they appear to offset our carbon footprint ?
Or perhaps more simply how many air miles does one acorn give ?

Captain Scott

21st August 2019 at 11:44 am

“Elton himself offset the carbon spouted by the flights by ‘making the appropriate contribution to Carbon Footprint’. Which is presumably some tree-planting outfit that absolves the rich of their guilt by throwing a few seeds in the ground every time they fly, much like the wealthy used to buy Indulgences from the Catholic Church to wash away their sins”.

Perfect – this is a religion and therefore common sense is regarded as heresy. Obviously Harry & Meghans flight will have no impact on climate change anyway, but because they pretend it does when they lecture us, they are like the filthy priest lecturing his congregation about purity, whilst shagging his churchwarden in the vestry.

Kevin Anscombe

21st August 2019 at 7:54 pm

Churchwarden? Altar boy! Brendan should know.

Winston Stanley

21st August 2019 at 2:21 am

Ironic coming from a dude who made his fortune selling bits of plastic. 250 million records at the last count. That is an awful lot of non-biodegradable cr ap bunging up the planet. What about the fishes? His 3,500 concerts also exhaled a lot of cr ap into the environment. EJ needs to do some serious penance and to apologise for his entire career. If only he had kept his mouth shut, all those fish would not have been bunged up with his cr ap. Yet here he is, still mouthing off his cr ap. What a poser.

Brandy Cluster

20th August 2019 at 10:47 pm

These hypocrites don’t care what the rest of the people think anyway, so your criticisms just wash over them. You call Elton a snob; but his music is anything BUT for snobs, isn’t it!! Bog standard is how I’d describe all of it. And passe and kitsch.

Jim Lawrie

20th August 2019 at 10:13 pm

The eco movement is a convenient camouflage for the rich to express their rage at the many now flying frequently and make it sound right and fitting. It allows them to openly and wistfully hark back to when it was the preserve of the few, and to soften us up for a return to that.

Jerry Owen

21st August 2019 at 8:08 am

Jim Lawrie.
Well said.. my belief also. It is about class and snobbery.

Neil McCaughan

20th August 2019 at 8:14 pm

What unites the Prince of Harry and Elton John? A shared love of olive oil. Mr John fills his paddling pools with the stuff; Harry stole a march on Popeye and married her.

Michael Lynch

20th August 2019 at 7:57 pm

Hilarious. Another entertaining and very well put article, Brendan.

Nearly wet myself laughing this morning when I heard that Reg said that it was a carbon neutral flight. Could it really be that his private jet is really some sort of futuristic glider?! I thought he was going to go on an add that he’d also discovered the secret of perpetual motion. Reg, Pontiff of the Woke Enlightenment, has more money than he can ever shake his wand at, but, unfortunately, has little sense to know when to keep his mouth firmly shut. A typical ‘front of the church’ type who ceaselessly tries to tell everyone to do as he says but not as he does. No wonder the Green movement lacks credibility when they have people like Reg and Emma as spokespeople. Which reminds me of another one of his anti democratic mates, the batty Caroline Lucas. I’d really love to ask her what happened to the old Green mantra/formula – local produce and goods made by local people for local people equals infinitely less carbon? Instead, she, along with Reg and Emma, seem hell bent on remaining in a club that has moulded and shaped the global economy. The most carbon hungry economic model known to mankind! Seems that their principles are very flexible friends indeed. When these self righteous morons spout off they truly make me sick to my stomach with their monumental hypocrisy and nonsense.

Kevin Baldeosingh

20th August 2019 at 7:49 pm

Every sentence spot on. The obliviousness if Elton et al is particularly revealing.

Jim Lawrie

20th August 2019 at 7:12 pm

Elton John thinks enough money thrown at any problem and it is solved. He acquired children that way, so why wouldn’t he?

Jonnie Henly

20th August 2019 at 7:10 pm

“But to a few well-deserved slights from ordinary people”

Well paid Daily Mail/ Express journalists do not count as “ordinary people”. If they are your standard for ordinary folk then it is you who is well and truly out of touch.

Neil McCaughan

20th August 2019 at 8:16 pm

Mr Henly does not care for the Daily Mail; he depends entirely on Hello magazine for his understanding of the world.

Jonnie Henly

21st August 2019 at 10:30 am

I’ve never read that in my life, unlike you (and many right wing loons I suspect).

Ashley Giles

20th August 2019 at 7:10 pm

Totally agree.

Jonnie Henly

20th August 2019 at 7:09 pm

“To which the only reasonable reply is: fuck off, Reg.”

That’s not a reasonable reply. That’s a stupid squeal from a stupid, smug journalist who’s aching for any chance to scream about the “woke elites”, which is remember a made up term.

The only reasonable reply to such a comment is thus: Grow up, Brendan.

Ven Oods

21st August 2019 at 2:25 pm

“the “woke elites”, which is remember a made up term.”

Given that our many languages are entirely ‘made up’, you’re not wrong there.

Jerry Owen

20th August 2019 at 6:08 pm

‘Fuck off Reg’ … beautifully put Brendan !
The front these people have is so staggering , what else can one say ?
Extinction Rebellion
David Attenborough
Woke Royalty
Emma Thompson
Chris Packham
… and all the other eco loons , p*ss off and leave us alone !

Grant MacCalman

20th August 2019 at 6:30 pm

My thoughts exactly. Perfectly put and pitched.
If only other outlets had the nuts to call out this utter hypocrisy and tripe spewed by the rich and privileged.

Jane 70

Kevin Anscombe

Thank you, I’d never heard of that site but am now hooked, despite the blatant sexism.

Jonnie Henly

20th August 2019 at 7:12 pm

If you don’t want to listen to them….. then don’t. No-one’s forcing you.

If you don’t like it, you can p*ss off and never be bothered again.

Jerry Owen

20th August 2019 at 7:33 pm

Little Jonnie I pay for the BBC it should be impartial.
This AGW tripe is spewed daily.
It’s difficult to avoid.
So Little Jonnie give me the science that proves AGW ?
Explain why the royals and Reg aren’t hypocrites of the highest order?
BTW I’m sure I’m not alone in noticing that you apparently see fit to piss off when people question your posts.. why is that ?

Jonnie Henly

21st August 2019 at 10:33 am

I wasn’t aware Elton John or Emma Thompson worked for the BBC.

Yes, it is pretty easy to avoid, you’re just incapable or unwilling to do so.

“Explain why the royals and Reg aren’t hypocrites of the highest order?”

Explain why they are first.

“BTW I’m sure I’m not alone in noticing that you apparently see fit to piss off when people question your posts.. why is that ?”

Because you never seem to bother replying to my responses to you, so why should I post said responses in the first place?
The real question is, why do you see fit to run away whenever I respond to your replies?

Jerry Owen

21st August 2019 at 12:02 pm

Little Jonnie
As ever you are unable to answer my questions. No surprise there though, eh ?
You were asked three separate questions by three separate people on another thread.. lo and behold you did a runner !
If you can’t see the hypocrisy of the royals here then your awareness is non existent, and quite frankly it’s embarrassing for you.
Who said about anybody working for the BBC ?
I spoke about BBC and by default media reporting, which is unavoidable unless you never watch the news.
As ever little Jonnie boy you are evasive due to a childlike inability to converse with the grownups, and you use straw man rhetoric to boot.

Jonnie Henly

21st August 2019 at 1:59 pm

Wrong again Jerry, I answered all of your questions, as I always do in my replies.

I’ve never “done a runner” so stop with those lies.

“If you can’t see the hypocrisy of the royals here then your awareness is non existent, and quite frankly it’s embarrassing for you.”

What a pathetic and useless explanation. Stop trying to shy away from the question and actually answer it for once. Only you won’t because you know that would expose the fact you’re talking pure BS.

“I spoke about BBC and by default media reporting”
Then why did you list a bunch of people who don’t work for the BBC in your moaning?

The BBC is not “by default media reporting”. Only people who’ve never bothered to get off their backside and check think the BBC covers the entire media. Is that you then Jerry?

“As ever little Jonnie boy you are evasive due to a childlike inability to converse with the grownups, and you use straw man rhetoric to boot.”

As ever, you are projecting.

Jerry Owen

21st August 2019 at 6:01 pm

Little Jonnie
Para one .. no you haven’t answered my questions above. Will you ?

Para two .. you never enter into debate you snipe and hide, you never actually enter into debate about any given article with your views ( I suspect you have none ) , you just pick at people in a rather immature manner.

Para three.. you quote me.

Para four ..is a very disconnected attempt to answer my quote and makes no sense. Please elaborate ?

Para five..you need to explain more , the names I gave are the first and foremost tedious AGW loons that are regularly on the airwaves and print , you know that , we all do . I could list another 100 from all over but I made my point. Please expand / make clear your actual point if I have missed it?
BTW Attenborough and Packham work for the BBC.. oops Little Jonnie.

Para six..I never said the BBC covered the entire media clearly the BBC is part of the entire media .. can you please expand if I misunderstand your point?

Para seven.. you quote me.

Your last sentence.. what am I projecting ?
Ask me some direct questions that make some sense and can be responded methodically to, then I will ask you some direct questions which you in turn can answer.

Neil McCaughan

22nd August 2019 at 11:46 am

Cluck cluckety cluck. Poor Jonnie gets upset when his fave slebs are criticised. Careful, he may brandish a rolled up fanzine in a threatening manner.

Jonnie Henly

22nd August 2019 at 5:14 pm

More rubbish Jerry.

I answered all the relevant questions, as I always do.

I never snipe and hide, that is you projecting again. Just because you always come on here sniping and labelling my arguments as such does not make it so.

“is a very disconnected attempt to answer my quote and makes no sense. Please elaborate?”

It was a very simple comment but obviously still too much for you. Allow me to simplify further: Explain how the royals are being hypocrites. Thus far you’ve been unable to and have instead resorted to sniping and insults.

“s I gave are the first and foremost tedious AGW loons that are regularly on the airwaves and print , you know that , we all do . I could list another 100 from all over but I made my point.”

No one forces you to read their articles or listen to them on the airwaves. Therefore, if you don’t wish to listen to them, it should be you who p*sses off, not they.

“BTW Attenborough and Packham work for the BBC”

I never claimed that they didn’t. Oh dear, more stupidity from you Jerry.

Why are the royals being hypocrites, and why is it other people’s job to stop talking about Global Warming rather than you job to cease listening if it upsets your delicate ears too much?

Jonnie Henly

22nd August 2019 at 5:15 pm

Neil, stop embarrassing yourself. It’s getting disgusting.

Jerry Owen

22nd August 2019 at 6:19 pm

Little Jonnie
My response is at the top .

Jane 70

20th August 2019 at 6:04 pm

So Our Madman Across The Water is deeply distressed.
He needs to get over himself and perhaps consider the lamentably and horribly deep distress of the late PC Andrew Harper’s grieving widow.
As to Harry and Meghan, surely they could have coughed up for a couple of 1st class tickets on the Eurostar and the French TGV?
That would have added some green polish to their halos.